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Ed Hardy Hearts and Daggers for Men

Tattooing has come a long way from being an activity sailors did while on shore leave in the 40’s and 50’s to its 21st century turn as permanent fashion accessory to the stars. One of the earliest tattoo artists who started to change the perception of tattooing from something done as a memento of military service to something correctly seen as art with skin as its canvas; was Don “Ed” Hardy. Ed Hardy was taught the ropes by Sailor Jerry Collins and would eventually be asked to Japan to learn from the tattooists in that country. Upon his return to the States, Mr. Hardy would fuse the classic style learned from Sailor Jerry with the Japanese aesthetic learned in Japan to create his own signature style of tattooing. Mr. Hardy would be influential in the progression of tattooing as art form through the publication of the magazine Tattootime and books published under the Hardy Marks publishing imprint.

Christian Audiger had already had a big success in selling trucker chic to the masses in creating and managing the Von Dutch clothing line. In 2004 he acquired the rights to develop Ed Hardy into the next new hip clothing brand. To gauge the success of this venture all one has to do is to visit any mall and observe the young and hip wearing Ed Hardy branded clothing.

Late in 2008 Mr. Audiger sought to expand the brand into fragrance and released two fragrances Ed Hardy for Men and Ed Hardy for Women. I thought both of these were good mass-market fragrances that had some interesting aspects to them but ultimately neither of them would capture the literal buzz of the tattoo parlor.

The second pair of fragrances under the Ed Hardy brand was Love and Luck for Women and Love and Luck for Men. The men’s version finally had some of the darker edginess I was hoping to find as notes of absinthe and agarwood added some of the tattooist’s edge to this fragrance. At the end of 2009 the third line of Ed Hardy fragrance made its appearance, Hearts and Daggers.

Hearts and Daggers for Men I was hoping would continue the trend towards a keener edge, especially on the masculine side of things. Once I got a look at the note list I realized that Hearts and Daggers was not going for darkness or edginess. Instead it was attempting to go for a masculine based fragrance with fruity notes added in. The notes at the top of Hearts and Daggers are listed as; Anjou Pear, Basil, and Dry Martini accord. This sounded like an intriguing mix especially if the herbal nature of the basil was allowed to have a prominent role. Surprisingly the pear is the dominant note with only hints of the basil and gin accord promised. I don’t get anything significantly herbal until the rosemary shows up in the heart along with pepper.

The first two-thirds of Hearts and Daggers stays resolutely fruity on me. About an hour in a very traditional base of sandalwood, patchouli, and leather comes to the fore and finally pushes the fruity aspects aside.

Hearts and Daggers is a surprising fragrance to be labeled as “for Men” to me. The fruit is very aggressively up-front for long periods and I’m wondering if this kind of fragrance will do well with the typical Ed Hardy demographic.

I can easily seeing it being worn by a woman because of the fruity nature of it. I’m still waiting for the Ed Hardy fragrance that truly captures the edge of a tattoo parlor, Hearts and Daggers for Men captures the feel of something far less edgy and more mainstream.

Mark Behnke is based in Somerville, MA, a suburb of Boston, and is the writer for Fragrantica. By day, he works as a research chemist in a pharmaceutical company. By night, he has been a consistent poster on the forums at Basenotes.net under his nom de blog, Somerville Metro Man. You can also follow Mark on Twitter @SomMetroMan if you're curious to find out what he wears on a day-to-day basis.

I have 3 tatoos from the USA navy. I would never wear this. It doesn't sond masculine.

Jan 17 2010

Zaleska

Thanks God it's not a music forum. LOL

Jan 10 2010

CampyCamp

I have no idea what the smell is like, however, I find the packaging slightly OTT. Camp in a bad way, that is to say, too theatrical for the macho type, and not sophisticated enough to appeal to the romantic dandy.
To me, it simply lacks the tiny little touch of glamour that we all tend to aspire to.
The design is somehow reminiscent of a generic heavy metal band logo - and like most heavy metal bands it just doesn't rock.

Jan 10 2010

desmondorama

Thanks for the informative and observant review of this new fragrance.

I have a feeling that the noses should have looked toward doing a replica of "Tom of Finland" by Etat Libre d'Orange to attain that edgy, tattoo parlour persona.

I have Tom of Finland in my wardrobe, but it's not a scent I can wear daily and would be more specific to a casual or male dominated occasion, although it is always good in very small doses in the daytime.

I'm heavy-handed with perfume, so small doses don't thrill me with the experience of wearing a designer fragrance.

Jan 08 2010

memechose

another case of one great scent than an onslaught of flankers... packaging alone cannot sell fragrance. hardy is so on target in clothing... there is no connection anymore to the fragrance. when you are cutting edge and dilute your brand it is such a shame. you nailed it. btw. the woman's version smells like 100 others. nailed it. good ink mark

Jan 08 2010

Zaleska

Well,
If we want a scent that represents the essence of a tattoo studio, it should smell like fresh blood, sterilized steel, adrenalin, Bepanthen, all mixed together.
Kidding, Mark. But I agree to you: it should be edgy, not "fruity".
Gimme a break! :)

Jan 08 2010

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